Haiti Relief

Crowley Maritime Corporation, working under contract with the U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM), is unloading Haiti relief cargo in Rio Haina, Dominican Republicy. Fifty six of the 68 20-ft containers of water and meals-ready-to-eat (MREs) will be trucked across the border into Haiti.
The remaining 12 loads aboard the container ship Macajama will be transported by water to Port-au-Prince, Haiti and be offloaded in an experimental lightering operation and delivered across a beach on Jan. 22. If successful, future shipments could be made directly to Port-au-Prince.
The Crowley plan calls for the Macajama to anchor offshore near the port's damaged south pier and near the exposed beach. Using a shipboard crane on the Macajama, the 12 remaining containers would be lowered onto a smaller vessel operated by G and G Shipping and delivered across the beach on wheels.
A team from Crowley's TITAN Salvage subsidiary surveyed the port area Jan. 18 and determined that such an operation was possible. They also determined that it would be possible to establish a temporary docking structure on the beach using a Crowley 400-ft-long by 100-ft-wide flat deck barge. Crowley is mobilizing such a barge (the 410) and a crane from Orange, Texas that could be used for cargo discharge, and plans to have both on the scene in Port-au-Prince on, or about, Feb. 2.

Plans call for new jetties and increased depth, along with state-of-the-art container terminal facilities to be jointly developed
Haiti-based WIN Group and South Fla.-based Santé Holding announced having reached an agreement to re-develop Terminal Varreux, S.A. in Port-Au-Prince, the largest privately-owned shipping terminal and port facility in Haiti. The fourth generation WIN Group is a Caribbean conglomerates, with stakes in multiple industries

The U.S. Coast Guard, the first Department of Homeland Security agency to provide assistance to Haiti following Tuesday's earthquake, continues to provide support Thursday to the U.S. Government's humanitarian assistance and disaster response efforts.
The Homeland Security Task Force-Southeast has been activated in the U.S. Coast Guard 7th District. Based in Miami, this task force will be responsible for supporting U.S

Maersk Line, part of the Danish group A.P. Moller - Maersk, will provide free ocean freight for 147 containers (3,525 metric tons) of rice donated by the Government of Thailand to Haiti through the World Food Program.
The rice will be split and shipped across four sailings, from Laem Chabang, Thailand to Caucedo, Dominican Republic, before being trucked into Haiti. The first shipment set sail on 15 March 2010, on Maersk Line vessel Maersk Kendal

Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) departed Jan. 16 beginning a five to seven day transit to Haiti, where more than 800 military and civilian aid workers aboard the ship will provide relief in response to the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck the Caribbean nation Jan. 12.
President Barrack Obama activated the ship, which houses one of the largest trauma facilities in the U.S., due to its capability to provide a full spectrum of surgical and medical services.

The Coast Guard Cutter Cypress is scheduled to return to Coast Guard Base Mobile, Ala., Thursday at about 1 p.m.
The crew of Cypress deployed to Haiti Feb. 26 in support of Operation Able Sentry, the U.S. government's response to increased migration from Haiti, following Haiti's domestic unrest.
While deployed, the crew took part in a variety of missions, including: alien migrant interdiction; law enforcement; aids to navigation; assisting the Coast Guard Maritime Safety and Security Team

A New Weekly Ocean Service to Haiti, operated by America Cargo Transport Corp., has been established with U.S. flag vessels and crews. The service loads every Friday/Saturday in Jacksonville, Fla. to Port-au-Prince, and/or Cap Haitien, Haiti. The service is accepting cargo booking requests for commerical cargoes, NGOs and Non-Profits. The service is accepting cargo bookings on a space available basis for ro-ro, containers (20-ft or 40-ft), breakbulk cargoes

WIN Group, the Haitian conglomerate that owns and operates Terminal Varreux in Port-au-Prince, situated just five miles from the epicenter of the January 12 earthquake, and Seacor Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CKH) have launched an emergency response project to enable the crucial marine terminal to resume receiving bulk fuel and containerized cargoes thereby replenishing the stricken country’s rapidly dwindling supplies of gasoline, diesel fuel, fuel oil

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) today activated two more Ready Reserve Force (RRF) ships to support Operation Enduring Freedom. The activations follow orders received from the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command. The two ships, the CAPE LOBOS and the CAPE LAMBERT, are part of the James River Reserve Fleet anchored near Fort Eustis, VA.
“The maritime community has served America with great distinction during every major crisis in our Nation’s history

The White House said on Friday a deal between West Coast ports and the dockworkers union was "a huge relief" for the economy, businesses and workers affected by the lengthy labor dispute.
President Barack Obama had received an update on the talks late on Thursday from Labor

General Dynamics NASSCO christened the U.S. Navy’s newest ship, the USNS Lewis B. Puller (MLP-3 AFSB), on Saturday during a christening ceremony held at the San Diego builder’s shipyard.
This third Mobile Landing Platform (MLP) is the first ship of the class to be configured

The proposed 2016 federal budget included funding for the design of new multi-mission vessels that will serve as training ships for the nation’s state maritime academies, including the State University of New York (SUNY) Maritime College.

Sometimes it seems cliché to repeat that a product or system “protects equipment and saves lives,” but in the case of valve manufacturer Penn-Troy, which recently unveiled a new crankcase explosion relief valve that boasts lower exhaust temperatures

In response to the significant impact of the recent South Australian bushfires on local communities, BHP Billiton Sustainable Communities today donated A$250,000 to the State Emergency Relief Fund.
The State Emergency Relief Fund has been established to provide assistance to those

The number of people evacuated due to Malaysia's worst-ever floods jumped to more than 160,000 on Saturday, as Prime Minister Najib Razak reached the worst-hit state after cutting short a vacation in the U.S.
Najib arrived in Kelantan

A man who was stranded on an island in the Bahamas for five days is safe after the Coast Guard rescued him Thursday afternoon.
Rescued was Andrew Black, Bahamian national, 55-years old.
While on a routine patrol, a Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk rescue helicopter crew spotted a man waving

America is leading the global effort to end the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. And part of the Obama Administration's whole-of-government response has included some recent heavy lifting by two ships from the Maritime Administration's (MARAD) Ready Reserve Force

W&O, a global supplier to the marine and upstream oil and gas markets for pipe, valves and fittings, valve automation and engineered solutions, has partnered with LESER in an exclusive distribution agreement to bring its safety relief valves to the United States maritime industry

Seven crewmembers were rescued after their 100-foot coastal freighter began taking on water and sank approximately 45 miles north off of Cap Haitien, Haiti, Friday.
Watchstanders at the U.S. Coast Guard 7th District command center in Miami received a report from a tug stating they heard a

Seven crewmembers were rescued after their 100-foot coastal freighter began taking on water and sank approximately 45 miles north off of Cap Haitien, Haiti, Friday.
Watchstanders at the Coast Guard 7th District command center in Miami received a report from a tug stating

Starting November 15, 2014, Royal Caribbean’s Explorer of the Seas begins homeporting at Port Canaveral through March 2015, offering a new nine-night itinerary that reaches further into the southern Caribbean with stops in Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, and Haiti

Gibbs & Cox, Inc., an independent naval architecture and marine engineering firm, announced the appointment of Patrick J. Keenan as Vice President, Platform Solutions Group. In this role, Keenan will have responsibility for leadership and management of the company's government and commercial

The crew of Coast Guard Cutter Diligence returned to Wilmington following a 45-day patrol in the Caribbean Sea.
While on patrol, Diligence served as the operational commander for all Coast Guard assets supporting Operation Southeast Watch in the Windward Pass between Cuba and Haiti